District 5 Diary

Rob Anderson's commentary on San Francisco politics from District 5

Friday, August 21, 2009

The Bicycle Coalition at the public trough

Below are only the documents we've received from the MTA as part of our litigation against the city's Bicycle Plan and from public records requests. I assume there's a lot more that we don't have. Contact your district supervisor or the mayor's office for more information.

For 2009 alone the city has handed $305,730 in taxpayers' money to the SF Bicycle Coalition!

3/30/09: $99,000 for “Professional Support Services for Bike To Work Day Coordination and Promotion," Contract No. CS-157 between MTA and SFBC (dept. liaison: Nick Carr) “...coordinate and promote the City’s Bike to Work Day program for the next two years.”

2/23/09: $107,800 for “Walkable/Bikeable Treasure Island." “The grant will fund community based transportation planning to create a safe walkable, bikeable and accessible Treasure Island...This project will lead meaningful outreach and facilitate community participation in prioritizing sustainable transportation needs for current and future residents of Treasure Island...This grant award will fund a series of community meetings, surveys, focus groups and the production of outreach materials about walking and biking on and to Treasure Island. [CalTrans Grant administered by MTA]

7/15/06: $44,000 for a Grant Agreement between City and County of San Francisco's Department of the Environment and the SFBC: “Initiate and administer a one-year Cycle & Recycle campaign to increase participation of compost and recycling of San Francisco residents...Reach more than 25,000 individuals with targeted Cycle and Recycle messages by leveraging the (SFBC) membership and volunteer base...Produce regular composting and recycling messages with guidance from Department of the Environment outreach staff, including weekly email messages, list serves, bimonthly newsletters, annual member packets, and membership...Incorporate a compost and recycling messages into the annual Bike to Work Day, valet parking events, bicycle education workshops, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition tabling events, and the SFBC website...Promote reusable shopping bags through the ‘SF Shop-by Bike’ program...Include Cycle & Recycle materials in university and college student’s ‘welcome’ packages...and Conduct surveys before and after the ‘Cycle and Recycle’ campaign to measure participation of SFBC members in composting and recycling and effectiveness campaign.”

11/1/05: $48,460 for “Street Skills” Classes and “Bike to Work Day," contract No. 3045-05/06 between MTA and SFBC [dept. liaison: Nick Carr] “Conduct at least 12 adult bicycle safety ‘Street Skills’ classes...coordinate, promote and conduct the annual Bike to Work Day event, including but not limited to: organizing and staffing at least 15 street-side ‘Energizer Stations;’ design, production and distribution of public outreach materials; purchase of incentives; recruitment of volunteers; and solicitation of donations for bicycle rider incentives.”